Wages, Health Benefits, and Workers’ Health
By Sara R. Collins, Karen Davis, Michelle M. Doty, and Alice Ho
The Commonwealth Fund – October 2004
Eighty-eight percent of employees earning more than $15 per hour had employer-sponsored insurance, but only 41 percent of those earning less than $10 per hour had such coverage.
…because there are few sources of affordable coverage outside the employer-based system, most workers without employer-based coverage are uninsured.
http://www.cmwf.org/usr_doc/Collins_workers_IB_788.pdf
Comment: This is not news. We already knew that less than half of low income workers (under $10/hour) have employer sponsored coverage, and they cannot afford coverage in the individual market.
What is more disconcerting is the following excerpt from the discussion section of this report:
“The employer-based health insurance system alone is insufficient to provide coverage to all Americans. However, the system is unlikely to change in the near future due to strong public support, the system’s relative efficiency in financing coverage, and a growing federal budget deficit. Any solution to expand health insurance coverage in the near term will likely have to build on the current system’s structure.”
This supposedly self-fulfilling prophecy has been repeated over and over again during the last decade. As we continue to build on the current system’s structure, the numbers of uninsured have increased and affordability is not only a threat, it has become a reality for those with health care needs.
What is there about “universal, national health insurance” that our policymakers don’t understand?